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POEMS 



BY 

WILLI\\\ T. WASHBURN 




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Two Copies Kbcwvcu 

DEC 27 1904 

_ Oopyrikiic entry . 

CL-HSS <3U XXc. No: 

COPY B. 






Copyright, 1904 

BY 

WILLIAM T. WASHBURN 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Pines 3 

Too Near 4 

Wasted Hours 5 

In Fate's Despite 6 

My Soul and I 7 

Repaid 8 

Magic Voices 12 

"Watching by the Sea 13 

At the Pier 15 

The Bather 16 

The Boat 17 

Beauty's Spirit 18 

The Sands of Love ig 

The East Wind 20 

The Searching Wind 21 

An Unknown Flower 22 

Matins 29 

May Morning 30 

Foresters 31 

The Trysting-Tree 32 

Nature's Secrets 33 

Telltale Blossoms 34 

The Sunset Days 35 

Autumn Inland 37 

Foam-Flowers 38 

Foes to Sense 39 

Childhood's Charm 40 

The Village 41 

Love's Arms 43 



iv CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Mischief 44 

Love in Idleness 45 

A Dangerous Captive 46 

Your Own Sweet Will 47 

Take Care 48 

Leap Year 49 

Bessy 50 

The Devotee 51 

Insignis Pietate 52 

Truth 53 

The Spirit of Light 55 

Reverie 56 

A Wood-Wild Queen 60 

Above My Eyes 61 

The Treasure-Bride 62 

Hi, Nelly ! 63 

Time's Glass 64 

Daffydowndilly 65 

Yes? 66 

Derry Town 67 

The Petard 68 

The Priestess 69 

The Shadow-Dance 70 

Her Own 71 

A Refrain 72 

The Fairest 73 

Supper 74 

To Buy or Beg 75 

The Masque 76 

The Waif 78 

Her Eyes 79 

The Mirror 80 

A Gale 81 

The Heavy Change 82 

A Dormant Wit 83 

Eheu Fugaces ! 84 

Poor Occasion 85 

Passed 86 

The Blood of Kings 87 



CONTENTS V 

PAGE 

Absent 88 

The Tokens 8g 

Don't 90 

Ambition's Slave 91 

Friends ! 92 

The Guest 93 

The Truant 94 

In Lent 95 

Solitary 96 

First Cure, then Endure 97 

By-Ways 98 

Secure 99 

Bolted Door 100 

The Forest loi 

How Question Love ? 103 

Answer 104 

Assured 105 

Une Parisienne 106 

Faith 107 

A Fairy Face 108 

April Chain 109 

The Queen of Spades no 

A Hand 112 

Gifts 113 

Mistakes 114 

OcuLi 115 

To George Washburn 116 

A Sunshine Maid 117 

A Toast 118 

Fractions 119 



POEMS 



THE PINES 

BENEATH the pines no roses blow, 
Beneath the pines no violets grow, 
But underneath their fragrant shade 
One summer day there sat a maid. 
Her breath more sweet than violets are, 
Her lips than roses lovelier far; 
And at her feet her lover sighed, 
But long his suit the maid denied. 
Fear not, fair maid, no eye shall know 
Beneath the pines what kisses grow. 



TOO NEAR 

YOU were too near to be pursued, 
Too kind a comrade to be wooed, 
And as our feet together pressed 
The violets on the hillside's breast, 
And as we turned to watch the gleam 
Of sunset on Nemasket's stream, 
This side the bend, where towering stood 
Of homestead elms that royal brood; 
Ah, me! Estelle, I never thought 
Your smile alone the magic wrought, 
That clothed the valley in delight 
And filled the west with roses bright. 
I loved you as I loved the sky. 
The grass, the rivulet's melody. 
Nor ever dreamed from bliss too deep 
That memories serpent-fanged would leap; 
Nor ever knew till broken-hearted 
From beauty's soul my soul had parted. 



WASTED HOURS 

HOW can I pass the weary hours between 
The loved face vanished and the loved face seen, 
When stars, their influence gone, appear 
Like beacon lights to deserts drear, 
When sunbeams shuffle by forlorn, 
When hope looks down on us in scorn ? 
Fair Arbitress of joy and love, 
Cannot your subtle magic move 
Fell time to close the gaps that yawn 
Between the sunset and the dawn ? 
Can you not soothe the wild regret 
Of one who never can forget 
His soul's lost immortality, 
The wasted hours unspent with thee ? 



IN FATE'S DESPITE 

IN my deafness still to hear thee, 
Like a spirit, singing near me ; 
In my blindness to behold thee 
Fairer through the clouds that fold me. 

Still in fate's despite to love thee, 
Cannot this, proud Beauty, move thee 
Something to forgive my boldness, 
Something to forget thy coldness. 

Pride has whispered, cease thy wooing. 
Hopeless love is life's undoing; 
Shame has whispered, cease thy sighing. 
Scorn best answers love's denying. 

But my warm tears unforgetting 

Still the frozen ground are fretting. 

And upon thy window gleaming 

Lie the cold, cold moonbeams dreaming. 



MY SOUL AND I 

MY Soul and I, ah, well-a-day, 
We parted long ago; 
To right and left we took our way 
And wandered to and fro. 

No words malign, no magic spell, 
Conspired to work our woe ; 

How it befell, I cannot tell. 
It only happened so. 

Of nature's dream by day and night 

My Soul had grown a part, 
And dwelt, a Presence of Delight, 

In my unconscious heart. 

Ambition, fame, the hundred aims 

That folly's fool control. 
Are they not eyeless, thoughtless flames 

Devouring beauty's soul ? 

O lamp of God! the path discover! 

Be not the promise vain. 
That my sweet Soul and her lost lover 

Shall meet nor part again! 



y'^ 



REPAID 

REVERENCING love, hast thou come, 
Mistress unblamed, unto my tomb ? 
Vex not with late guerdon of tears 
Him who thy white livery wears. 

Youth and its strength freely were given, 
Lady, to sing thee unto heaven; 
Lamp of my toil, soul of my thought, 
Tireless for thy honor I wrought. 

Flattering wiles, vanity's greed. 
Pitiless hope's poisonous seed. 
Lady, whose steps music waylaid, 
Thou hast not left love unrepaid. 

Drive not the warm snake from my breast. 
Summon the mole back to its nest, 
Over my grave let the thorns creep, 
Trouble not thou. Lady, my sleep. 



SILVERY NET 

SILVERY net, silvery net, 
Woven with care, warily set, 
Lier-in-wait, thief of the sea. 
Win from the deep treasure for me. 

Faint on the marge, weary and sad, 
Fed with the mist, misery-clad. 
Long have I lain, sorrow-begone. 
Mocked of the stars, scorned by the sun. 

Ripples the wave, still though the wind, 
Watcher unseen, what dost thou bind ? 
Hasten, my hand, hasten, my oar. 
Soon shall the prize bloom on the shore. 

Heavy the spoil, fisherman bold. 
Diamonds or pearls, what dost thou hold ? 
Tho' with strong hand back draw the tide. 
Swiftly, my boat, more swiftly glide. 

What on the wave glooms shuddering. 
Dark as the wild night raven's wing; 
What 'mid the weeds glimmers so fair, 
Deep with delight clothing the air ? 
9 



lO SILVERY NET 

Thee have I won, luminous maid, 
Ivory-limbed, beauty-arrayed; 
Fleece of the cloud, flame of the sea, 
Fatal to all, captive to me ? 

Cold are the drops that from thee drip, 
Colder thy cheek, colder thy lip. 
Cold is the ice, swift streams that rims. 
Colder thy still crystalline limbs. 

Gentle the arms round thee that twine, 
Tender the lips melting on thine. 
Creep, Beauty, creep, close to my breast, 
Cold is the bird, warm is the nest. 

Opaline glance, steal from thy sheath, 
Roses again wake from your death, 
Violet veins swift through the snow. 
Bear to my heart love's overflow. 

Slumbers too deep, joys too divine, 
Round the fond heart coil serpentine; 
Fortunate love ill vigil keeps. 
Forth from sweet dreams cruel Beauty leaps. 

Forth from wild dreams madly I start. 
What like a sword pierces my heart ? 
Am I awake! ah, misery! 
Loveliest one! why dost thou fly ? 

Look how the rocks shield her white feet! 
Look how the waves rise her to greet! 
Down she has leaped into the sea. 
Look how she turns piteously! 



SILVERY NET II 

Arrows of love dart from her eyes, 
Piercing the mists round her that rise; 
Hark to her song, summons of fate. 
Whispering low: " Why dost thou wait ? 

" Knowest thou not, he who has kist 
Once my pale lips all joy has missed ? 
Linger ye on, hopeless, alone, 
Memory's mock, corse on a throne ! " 

Echoes my soul, short my delay. 
Beckoning shape, thee to obey: 
Into the storm, into the sea. 
Vision divine, gather thou me. 



MAGIC VOICES 

I HEARD the waters falling, falling, 
On bare Southampton shore. 
Like magic voices, Stella, calling 

To spirits sad and sore. 
In music's realm to seek a spot 
By care and envious age forgot. 

What rapture on some flowery isle 

To hide my life in thine. 
And watch, unblamed, thy gracious smile 

Illumine thoughts divine. 
While tranced waves were round us gleaming 
And Beauty's star of Beauty dreaming! 



WATCHING BY THE SEA 

HAVE you, Lady, seen a bush 
Vocal with a hidden thrush, 
Leaf and spray with life o'erflowing, 
Joy and ecstasy bestowing, 
Symbol of the veiling voice 
Music's higher art employs. 
With soft echoes lingering on. 
When its master-guest has gone ? 
So your words. Enchantress, fill 
Every crevice of my will ; 
So your thoughts my spirit move. 
Magnetize, delight, reprove; 
Vivify the day and night 
With their touches exquisite; 
Banish each corroding care. 
Trace themselves on unseen air, 
Carve themselves upon the sand. 
On whose reedy ridge I stand; 
Float on waves by sunbeams kissed. 
Crimson paint the purple mist; 
Body forth with crystal charm 
Dream or timid promise warm; 
Th' interpenetrable joy 
Of the smiles and blushes coy 
Of a face that never yet 
Love has looked on to forget. 
13 



14 WATCHING BY THE SEA 

Sweetly now they whisper me, 
As I watch beside the sea, 
Listening, when my pulses beat 
Welcome to approaching feet; 
Chafing, when each form I see 
Slowly changes, Sweet, from thee; 
Thinking earth — what place so dear. 
With my princess throned here; 
Thinking heaven — how incomplete, 
Could our eyes no longer meet; 
Hearing in my long love-wait, 
Hope and fear in deep debate, 
" Will she come, who tarries late ? " 



AT THE PIER 

OLOVE! of life and death the giver, 
Who taught the voices of the river 
To whisper of a joy forever! 

A form, a face, a phantom bright, 

She touched the pier with footstep light, 

She paused, she passed, and all was night! 

How cold her glance, her sail how swift! 
A burden time may never lift 
Encumbered me; my soul adrift 

Upon the waste of waters wan. 
Upbraided frozen star and sun, 
For hope, for love, for life undone ! 



15 



THE BATHER 

ACROSS the beach Estella flies; 
O happy hearts that see 
The light of her side-tilted eyes 

Allure bewitchingly 
From peeping cave and covert coy 
All masking shapes of mirth and joy! 

With dainty cries of mock alarm, 

With gestures blithe and brave, 
Like scarlet ibis, bright and warm, 

She treads the cooling wave, 
Then, floating with the ebbing tide, 
Invades the pathless ocean wide. 

" Forget," she cries, " earth's changeless laws, 

Dance with the dancing foam, 
Pursue whatever impulse draws. 

Be fancy's wing our home; 
Like billows wild that kiss and part, 
Let love and freedom share the heart! " 

No naiad at the fountain of 

Perpetual youth unveiling. 
With promises of faithful love 

And beauty's gifts unfailing. 
Could so waylay the steadfast soul, 
As she, who mocked at Love's control. 



i6 



THE BOAT 

SHE moved along the trembling deck 
With unuplifted eyes, 
Her tresses fretting her snowy neck, 
And her whispers choked with sighs. 

" And must I, Lady, bid farewell 

To hours so swiftly flown, 
To sweeter dreams than tongue can tell. 

Or earth dare call its own ? " 

Across the swaying waters lay 
The moonlight's pathway bright, 

And our mingled spirits stole away 
To the starry infinite. 



17 



BEAUTY'S SPIRIT 

FAWN-FOOTED, robed in blue and white, 
With mocking laughter sweet. 
She stole where the waves of silvery light 
On the window lattice beat. 

The soft beams played with each silken thread 

Of the wild abundant hair 
That wreathed a glory round her head 

And fretted her shoulders fair. 

Not lovelier are the dreams of night, 

That the frozen traveller warm, 
Than the peeping charms that breathe delight 

Around her slender form. 

Is she a mortal, or vision caught 

In a weird enchanted net, 
That all beauty-curves have subtly wrought 

And for Beauty's Spirit set ? 

Oh, was it a thousand years ago. 

Or was it but yester-night. 
When the swaying waters whispered low, 

And the moon was at its height ? 



i8 



T 



THE SANDS OF LOVE 

HE Delaware flows by pasture and close, 
The shadows steal over the foam, 
The trees on the brink the white vapor drink. 

The cattle are wandering home. 
O'ercome with delight, I forget the long year. 
And turn fondly thinking Estella is near; 
How faithful my longing, my longing how vain! 
What day ever brings the same pleasure again ? 

The grass is as green, and as lovely the scene. 

As when, in the morning of May, 
She timidly swore by the name I adore 

To love me for ever and aye. 
The river, the valley, the sunset, are one, 
How can I believe that their spirit is gone! 
The cold from the mountain creeps over the plain; 
What day ever brings the same pleasure again ! 

Soon, soon back to me, from over the sea. 

My vision's love-idol will fly; 
Soon, soon on my gloom her beauty will bloom, 

And heart-beat to heart-beat reply. 
But deep though the bliss that will lurk in each kiss, 
Alas, there 's a joy that we cannot but miss; 
On love's sweetest rapture will steal the refrain, 
No day ever brings the same pleasure again. 



19 



THE EAST WIND 

THE wind is blowing from over the sea, 
But the wind will never blow back to me 
The maiden I loved so tenderly. 

O Lady of beauty! O Lady of pain 

My kisses will never your shoulder stain, 

Nor your glances dim my eyes again. 

Oh, stern and hard is the judgment of youth, 
And sharp is the sword of unchanging truth. 
And little it tarries for prayer or for ruth. 



THE SEARCHING WIND 

THE searching wind will wander far 
And question glowworm, gem or star 
Ere it discover charms that give 
Such pleasures fixed or fugitive 
As wait upon the glances bright 
That hover round me day and night 

When, Stella, by these waters wild, 
With footsteps swift or dream-beguiled, 
You fling abroad from spendthrift hand 
Your beauty's wealth on wave and sand 
And mock the saw that nature wise 
Is partial to economies. 

Your task it is to scatter bliss 

And mine your wind-tossed curls to kiss, 

To flatter frown and sigh away, 

To watch your masking thoughts at pl-'iy, 

Until your soul in music wakes 

And thro' your smiles and dimples breaks. 



AN UNKNOWN FLOWER 

IS " Kiss behind the Garden Gate " 
A flower that early blooms or late ? 
A sister to the Gladiola, 
From which no mortal ever stole a 
More lasting pleasure than is lent 
By scarlet leaves when summer 's spent, 
But whose coy colors delicate 
For lovers' glances lie in wait ? 
Or like a Boston Beauty fed 
With kisses and with rubies red. 
That breathes the honey-burdened breath 
Of one whom love remembereth, 
Whose lips are all too dainty sweet, 
To leave love's question incomplete ? 
Think you it won its name that day. 
When all our hearts you stole away, 
And after the Great Wedding came 
To one with jealous fears aflame, 
Whose prayers your prudish steps beguiled 
To walk the wandering woodvvays wild, 
Retreating from the sullen roar 
Of waters on Southampton's shore, 
Till to your garden gate we came. 
And winged feet returned to tame ? 
You asked me then, " Dost think 't was right. 
To walk the woods in such a light ? 

22 



AN UNKNOWN FLOWER 23 

What pity 't is I had not known, 

You were without a chaperon ! 

Much, much I blame your foolish haste 

And my own confidence misplaced 

On one, I fear, who 's been among 

The world as little as he 's young. 

'T is strange the Crescent was not lit, 

And stranger not to mention it. 

And stranger still to lecture me, 

Assuming me no longer free, 

Yourself pinned to the swashing skirt 

Of that unconscionable flirt! " 

Then opening the chiding gate 

You turned and said, " 'T is growing late." 

And parted from me mocking stood 

Secure in most defiant mood ; 

To rally skilled and answer nay; 

Resolved I should no longer stay, 

For worship framed but hard to please, 

Unlike the classic goddesses. 

" Although your charms have blinded me," 

Then I, " the soul has eyes to see. 

What tho' your cottage lamps are out. 

And shadows of their site in doubt, 

And every firefly for the night 

Has housed his small revolving light;. 

The glimpses of your sapphire eyes 

At variance with your cold replies 

Unveil the dazzling image true 

Of all that beauty which is you I 

No less I feel the witchery 

Of your thick tresses' garlandry, 



24 AN UNKNOWN FLOWER 

And the quick eloquence of a dress 

That echoes nature's loveliness; 

Your vest embroidered up and down 

With noble opals many a one, 

Your golden girdle trimly girt, 

The rosebuds that emboss your skirt, 

The diamonds tangled in the lace 

That rustles Cupid's hiding-place! 

No Oriental queen I guess. 

Nor pearl-encumbered sorceress. 

Who would not envy your lithe form 

That makes the night air blithe and warm." 

These fancies round you hovering 
Disturbed your convent reasoning. 
Till in confusion doubly sweet 
Your glances fell down to your feet, 
Then whispering some verdict kind 
About my own disordered mind, 
Your slender fingers you withdrew 
From that grim gate that guarded you. 
And half relenting from your pride, 
With broken answers you replied: 
" Perhaps! some other day we '11 see! 
Much, much depends on what may be! 
Wild stories by your friends are told. 
That argue you not underbold, 
Nor overwise in what you do. 
No doubt you 've often heard them, too. 
And give them little credit; nay. 
Why should I heed what others say ? 
Your speech and silence prove you blind 
And dumb; such friends are hard to find." 



AN UNKNOWN FLOWER 25 

You spoke, and open pushed the gate, 
That had provoked our long debate, 
And I before you meekly stood. 
Abashed at my beatitude. 
Then awestruck watched the sudden change 
That clothed you with a beauty strange. 
And showed you in your deeper mood, 
That made the charms of nature rude. 
Clipped round with classic courtesies 
That fate to lesser minds denies, 
And dowered with mystic loveliness 
That glorified your smile's caress. 

Then tho' in love's deep mazes lost. 

As calm as sailor tempest-tossed, 

Or sage translated from the grave, 

I watched your eyes grow large and brave; 

And as one sees in reverie 

His idol princess beaming nigh. 

Yet eye nor finger dares to move, 

For fear the vision baseless prove. 

Silent among the silences 

Of stars and fields and voiceless trees, 

I watched with unobtrusive eye 

The slowly breathing pageantry. 

For, save the deep-veiled melody 
That hides the laughters of the sea. 
No murmur questions the soft spell 
Of midnight's hour inviolable; 
Deserted as the House of Fame, 
When it no longer breathes your name, 



26 AN UNKNOWN FLOWER 

Your pictured cottage lies at hush 

By maple stirred nor lilac bush; 

No watchful dog nor chanticleer 

Invades the night's unchallenged ear; 

No cloud-bewildering cuckoo, 

Self-conscious catbird, vireo, 

Nor bobolink, the prince of glee, 

Nor wren, compact of harmony, 

Nor delicate scarlet tanager, 

Nor tender thrasher is astir, 

Nor indigo bird, nor woodthrush waking, 

And Beauty's eyes for dawn mistaking, 

Unburdens its love-laden throat, 

Responsive to your softer note. 

Ah! how can foolish mortals jest 

At love, who live at its behest! 

O'ermastering the silence sweet, 

Your ear at length my praises greet ; 

Till, as your yielding hand I take, 

Kind memories in your heart awake. 

And I unblamed may gaze upon 

A face to make the noontide wan; 

A soul imperious and shy. 

That knows to grant and to deny. 

Ah me! what words can wistfully 

To paint your sober picture try ! 

The curves of grace that round you play. 

And every motion subtly sway! 

Your eyes that naught as bright behold. 

Your lips from music's loveliest mould. 

Your tresses where the sunshine lingers. 

The rose leaves dropping from your fingers; 



AN UNKNOWN FLOWER 2/ 

And all the wooing witchery 
That edges your coy coquetry, 
And swiftly changes, when the gleam 
Of danger stirs your maiden dream! 

Enchanted hour, the brightest gem 
That glistens on Time's diadem, 
How well I know your rapture won ! 
How well I know your glory gone! 
For Fancy, fly where'er it will, 
Returns to one high vision still, 
With all that 's fair and brave to see. 
Embodying Beauty's dream of thee. 
Or showing imaged in her glass 
How far your charms her own surpass! 
Again, my eager prayers enisle 
Your too impartial glance and smile; 
Again, before your crescent brow 
I see the stars enamored bow; 
Again, your fluttering laces fret 
A neck no snowflake can forget! 
With interchangeable hue 
Again your glances blend their blue 
With gleaming threads of green and gold 
That lend them lustre manifold; 

Again, with whispers recusant, 
Coy half-denials that enchant, 
And lips that steal away from mine 
In modest beauty more divine, 
The soul-light gathering in your eyes. 
Transforming earth to paradise. 



28 AN UNKNOWN FLOWER 

I see your love-compelling form 
The night and all her vassals warm. 
Oh, would with truth that fancy could 
Portray you in love's fonder mood! 
Could see your flashing eyes grow meek, 
Your hands no longer freedom seek, 
And over features proud and pale 
The beckoning wild-fire flush and fail. 

Oh, doubt not heaven and hell are one 
And love a stroke of the veering moon, 
For since those blissful moments past, 
What joy, but torture follows fast! 
With treacherous tooth still mining deep 
The heart that vainly dreams of sleep, 
Of one none ever thought would be 
The fool of fear and jealousy! 
But weak as water is the heart, 
And thou and I are far apart. 
And beauty such as thine, alas, 
Each hour what new temptation has! 

Sweet guardian of love's magic garden, 
How can I ever hope for pardon! 
For, bitter pang, too well I know 
That lovers reap what lovers sow. 
And doubting lover merits what 
Reward but to be all forgot 
With that deep hour, when at your gate, 
Estelle, I lingered long and late! 



MATINS 

WAKE, Beauty, wake ! the morning peeps 
O'er grasses jewel hung; 
Save bats and owls, no creature sleeps, 
The world is turned to song; 

The swallow at thy window-pane 

With twittering note delays; 
The thrasher thrills his trembling strain ; 

The robin pours his praise. 

But sweeter sings the voice of love 

O'er daisied meadows playing: 
" Wake, wake, and all the pleasures prove 

Of hearts that go a-Maying." 



29 



MAY MORNING 

THE wind is still on lake and hill, 
The leaves are greener growing; 
The fields are bright with blossoms white, 
And brooks to the brim are flowing. 

From rocky steep the sunbeams leap. 

The dewdrops gem the grass. 
And fast away, like wizards gray. 

The trembling shadows pass. 

" Pee-wee, chir-chir, more wet, kill deer," 

Hark, all the jarring chorus! 
While cloud and sky in harmony 

Are bending gently o'er us. 



30 



FORESTERS 

LOVE-FARING through the forest shade, 
My darling's steps I drew; 
The frolic sunbeams round us played; 
From leaf to leaf they flew. 

They pierced the bramble's tangled gloom, 

They danced along the brook, 
They woke the timid flowers that bloom 

By many a cloistered nook. 

Ah, foolish is the world and blind. 

And blind I pray will be, 
That envy's eye may never find 

The spot so dear to me. 



31 



THE TRYSTING-TREE 

PRUNE with care this apple-tree, 
Wart and wrinkle smooth away, 
Bald and barren though it be, 

Bind each bleeding branch and spray. 

Once, when Time and I were young, 
Beauty here her footstep stayed; 

Once by Sorrow's timid tongue 
Beauty's ear was here waylaid. 

Blossoms round us fragrance shook, 
Quicker grew my charmer's breath, 

And a sigh, a word, a look. 
Made me captive unto death. 

Still that tender look I see. 
And while love and life are dear, 

Never shall this trysting-tree 
Hand unkind or careless fear, . 



32 



NATURE'S SECRETS 

{WHISPERED, "Will you come with me, 
And leave both kith and kin, 
And we will question land and sea 
And nature's secrets win ? " 

Undina's timid hand I take. 

And far away we wend, 
To shores where billows curl and break. 

There must our journey end. 

And there I build of mossy stone 

Forgetful love's retreat. 
And chain with sunbeams one by one 

The wind-blown echoes sweet. 



33 



TELLTALE BLOSSOMS 

WHERE'ER, Estelle, your winged feet 
The joyous earth have pressed, 
Divining blossoms passing sweet 
Your fancies have confessed. 

Upon the bosom of this lake 

No lovely lily grew, 
Till, bending down your thirst to slake, 

Your image answered you. 

This wild rose into beauty blushed 

When, pale with sudden fear, 
The music on your lips was hushed 

By lips too fondly near. 

And see, in this sequestered spot, 

With eyes that never dance 
Like yours, one stray forget-me-not 

Rebukes your wayward glance. 

And vainly searched-for passion-flowers 

Pronounce hope unforgiven, 
For whispered dreams of golden hours 

That mingle earth with heaven. 



34 



THE SUNSET DAYS 

THE sunset days were growing long 
When o'er Southampton's meadow 
You wandered like the soul of song, 

And I, like beauty's shadow, 
With little other care or thought 
Than butterfly or daisy brought. 

The grasses kissed your dainty feet, 
The wild rose pricked your finger, 

The rivulet paused your glance to greet 
Or whispered you to linger 

And fill your basket and your bosom 

With scarlet bloom or apple blossom; 

Till songsters crimson, blue, or white, 

With music magical. 
An airy palace of delight 

With singing roof and wall 
Around us build where age and pain 
May never entrance hope to gain ; 

Where fairy visions part and meet 

In beauty's disarray. 
And pause to drink the perfume sweet 

Of flowers that bloom alway; 
Or gathering round you fondly guess 
The secrets of your loveliness. 
35 



36 THE SUNSET DA YS 

Veil, Laura, veil your queenly neck. 

Your slender ankle cover, 
With words and frowns persuasive check 

Your too adventurous lover; 
That nature's winsome beauties may 
Your soul adorn and not betray. 



AUTUMN INLAND 

IN scarlet hose the schoolgirl goes 
To the schoolhouse under the hill; 
Old women meet with shuffling feet, 

And winged voices shrill; 
And whip in hand the farmers stand 
Around the throbbing mill. 

The river creeps, the meadow sleeps. 
Embossed with cart and plough; 

Huge hives of gold the harvests hold ; 
The weeds forget to grow; 

Unfenced and strong, a tireless throng, 
The prairie breezes blow. 

Well scenes like these the heart may please, 

But dearer far to me 
The rocking shore, the billows' roar. 

The foam-flowers of the sea. 
The furrowed plain that yields no grain, 

But deathless melody. 



37 



FOAM-FLOWERS 

WHY cannot love, alas, delay 
The hours that run so fast away 
When Stella's glances round me play! 

Coy beams of mystic loveliness, 
That languish, sparkle, and caress, 
And hope's reluctant secrets guess. 

Artificers of life and light, 

How can they end their sapphire flight 

Forgetfully in gloomy night! 

Like foam-flowers, radiant in the pride 
Of dawn, that with the rivulet glide 
Beneath the forest's leafy tide. 

Ah, once again her form divine 
Approaching lends an ear benign 
To heaven's magnetic countersign. 

Beneath the splendor of her eyes 

My soul again enraptured lies. 

And living dreams and dreaming dies! 



38 



FOES TO SENSE 

THE angry gods grow mild to hear 
My song, and, Lady, thou, — 
Canst not subdue thy rebel ear, 
Or smooth thy ruffled brow ? 

Oh, mingle with your loveliness, 

Your fancies, and your wit. 
Some useful thoughts, that one may guess 

A heart not counterfeit. 

How bitter is the lesson which 
Too late we learn from beauty. 

That lips and eyes that most bewitch. 
Are foes to sense and duty. 



39 



CHILDHOOD'S CHARM 

IN silk and filmy lace arrayed, 
With pearls upon your breast embayed, 
Your tresses tied with golden braid, 

You shine in your imperious mood 
The Queen of Beauty's sisterhood, 
On whom what mortal dare intrude! 

But, oh! your childhood's voice to hear. 
To watch your swift feet drawing near, 
And whisper secrets in your ear! 



40 



THE VILLAGE 

UPON a golden afternoon, 
Far, far from the beaten way, 
Reposing in the lap of June 
A grassy village lay. 

There, leaning over a rustic gate, 

I saw a maiden fair. 
With brooding eyes disconsolate, 

And a wild rose in her hair. 

" Oh, what is the name of this sleeping town. 
And, princess, what is thine ? — 

For never a traveller's glance has known 
A vision more divine. 

" And what is the name of the sapphire lake 

That gleams in yon valley deep, 
Where the piny breezes never wake, 

But only sigh in their sleep ? 

" And what is that sightless building red 

That rests beside the road. 
With a patch of green before it spread. 

Like a gypsy-queen's abode ? 

41 



42 THE VILLAGE 

" And whose is this royal yellow house, 

Beneath the elm trees tall, 
And whose are the voices murmurous 

That softly rise and fall ? 

" But let me into the garden, child, 

Where the posies paint the air, 
And I '11 add a tame rose to the wild 

To deck your chestnut hair," 

" Nay, nay," she sighed, "I must say thee nay. 

For the sun is sinking low, 
And ill it were I should let you stray. 

Where the bravest fear to go. 

" The ghosts of all your kith and kin 

Within this garden use; 
And who his passage out can win, — 

Who to tarry is forced to choose ? " 

" And who art thou, my sybil bright, 

In this love-barren dwelling. 
The treasurer of lost delight, 

Of vanished seasons telling ? " 

She answered not, but well I knew 
The dream in her bosom hiding, 

The tender child-love coy and true 
In her soul of soul abiding. 

Sweet playmate love, that grows not old, 

But ever fairer shows. 
Though darkest cloud and absence cold 

Their barriers interpose! 



LOVE'S ARMS 

MY Lady has the arms of love, 
Simplicity and grace, 
And happy I, could I remove 
The frown that mars her face. 

For through her eyes of sapphire blue 
Now steals a shade of green, 

That, mingling with that heavenly hue, 
Disturbs her glance serene. 

But she has a comely waist to span, 

And, spite of her jealousy, 
If she '11 never look at another man, 

I '11 not revengeful be. 

But fondly pray all ladies may 
Think me a prize forbidden ; 

Or, if they will my path waylay, 
Some corner find well hidden. 



43 



MISCHIEF 

SHE wandered up, she wandered down, 
The distant figures reading, 
A roguish girl, now sober grown, 
Thro' conscience interpleading. 

No yellow bird on the swaying spray 

Of a blossoming apple-tree 
Had poise more true, or dress more gay. 

Or a sweeter voice than she. 

" If he should come and find me gone," 
She thought, "will he die of sorrow, 

Or blithely sing, ' Another sun 

Will shine as bright to-morrow ' ? " 

With mischief dancing in her eyes 

She hides behind a tree, 
Unseen to take him by surprise 

And test his loyalty. 



44 



LOVE IN IDLENESS 

WHO 'S in love with idleness ? 
Art too lazy, Child, to guess, 
As you slowly saunter forth. 
Heedless of the cringing earth ? 

Now you move with indolent mien 
O'er the daisy-cumbered green; 
Lined by this deep-rooted tree. 
You are moving — one can see. 

Now along the riverside. 
With your tresses half untied, 
You are loitering, listlessly 
Watching floating clouds go by. 

Full of mischief languorous. 
Through your ringlets peep at us 
Eyes that answer yes or no, 
As the wind blows to and fro; 

Eyes that whisper to the day, 
" Why so fast bright hours away ? 
Cannot Time with Beauty tarry ? 
Must I all his burdens carry ? " 



45 



A DANGEROUS CAPTIVE 

O FOOLISH Fancy, have a care 
Of the dainty gossamer net 
With which you 'd catch the lady fair 
On whom your heart is set. 

For every airy thread you weave, 

Her cunning fingers fine. 
Without as much as "by your leave," 

May secretly untwine. 

And you, by blinded habit weak. 
While in your work engrossed. 

May find yourself a captive meek 
In treacherous meshes lost. 



46 



YOUR OWN SWEET WILL 

OH, come, and bring but one alone, 
And who that one shall be 
But little thought have I or care, 
If you leave the choice with me. 

Your dainty dress either pink or gray 

Or high or low shall be, 
Whatever you wish, I '11 not say you nay, 

If you leave the choice with me. 

Of course you shall dance with whomever you will, 

And the queen of the ball shall be, 
Or a modest corner with beauty fill, 

If you leave the choice with me. 



47 



TAKE CARE 

THE rustling of her petticoat 
Magnetic music made, 
And like an echo round her throat 

The fretful laces played, 
And toward me many a greeting came 
From eye and hand and lips aflame. 

And timid blushes gathered way. 

Like prairie fires at night, 
That dart and turn and forward sway, 

Until a dreamer might 
From Beauty's spell forget to- fly, 
And, unresisting, gaze and die. 



48 



LEAP YEAR 

WE 'D walked across the Brayton Farms, 
Thro' the lane called hot and cold, — 
A maiden not devoid of charms 
And a youth not over bold. 

Here Narragansett's waters lap 

A region famed in story, 
Where, like a blue-sky thunderclap, 

Fell savage hatchets gory. 

We 'd seen two desolate fishhawks' nests, 

High perched on a barren tree. 
And been the appreciative guests 

Of the feathered minstrelsy. 

We paused beside a fairy nook, 

Where tiger lilies glared, 
And wild roses with beauty took 

The light the pine leaves spared. 

With opalescent glances coy, 

That dawn had stolen from night. 

The maid, like an embodied joy. 
Unveiled her spirit bright. 

Then frowned and tied a silken braid 

Of hair around my waist, 
" Wilt turn a surly friar," she said, 

" Or wisdom learn and haste ? " 



49 



BESSY 

SWEET Bessy never looked so fair 
As when she 'd tidied up her hair, 
And turned with glance irresolute 
The daisies bending round her foot. 

Before her flowed Nemasket River, 
Above the leaves had ceased to quiver, 
And o 'er her sunset roses warm 
To morning's darling lent their charm. 

The twilight deepened; starry night 
Transformed the scene with magic sleight, 
And nature's voices lulled asleep 
The valley, stream, and forest deep. 

Coquettish, ardent, and refined. 
The flower of all the gentle kind, 
What eyes so dim but paused to praise 
Her gracious mien and winsome ways. 

But when to Pokanoket town 

Proud Bessy hastened half alone, 

From all she met she turned in fear 

Their questioning glance would come too near. 

She who was first at field or ball 
Now lagged the hindmost of them all, 
And ever moved as one to whom 
Or soon or late a word will come. 



50 



THE DEVOTEE 

THESE Lenten days your dress demure, 
And sober smiles devoutly pure, 
Persuade me with their spell benign 
To holy church and sacred shrine. 

The wrinkled city shakes with cold, 
But beauty's spur makes sluggards bold, 
And patient of the mocking rain. 
Or jest, I watch to catch again 

The high Madonna look of grace 
That glorifies your gypsy-face. 
And whispers of a soul above 
The follies of an earthly love. 

Your steps fall softly as a prayer. 

Your eyes illume the vacant air, 

Or bend a swift reproving glance. 

If thoughtless friend before them chance. 

Ah, since the wondering Hudson River 
Beheld the Half-Moon" s pinions quiver 
What seed by angel fingers sown 
To flower so dainty fair has grown ! 



51 



INSIGNIS PIETATE 

THE songs I wrote to Tera would 
Have touched Madonna's heart, 
And my purse, as bravely as it could, 
Maintained a lover's part. 

A Boston Beauty, one or two. 
And common flowers in season, 

And airy orchids — rather few — 
Appealed to Tera's reason. 

But a kindly glance I could not get, 
Nor a touch of her winged hand. 

But she sent me a rosary carved of jet, 
In hope I should understand. 

How many graves are growing green 
Where never a grave should be. 

If that catching mischief had not been 
So full of piety. 

I know it would give you great relief 

Could I assure you, dear. 
That in fulness of time she died of grief. 

But on that point I am not clear. 

The only time I saw her again. 
She looked like a primrose queen, 

And was serving dishes of frozen pain 
To her orphans upon the green. 



52 



TRUTH 

IMPERIAL child of parents base, 
Who, Truth, can in your features trace 
The traits that Bacchus' name disgrace ? 

Or rebel Eve, who, over civil. 
From fond persuasion and the devil 
Received the fruit of good and evil ? 

Or that pernicious maiden who. 
If Grecian tales hold aught of true. 
The box of troubles open threw ? 

But from whatever lineage sprung. 
What god by wisest poets sung 
Has such unselfish homage wrung ? 

And who that has your power denied, 
What king supreme o'er heaven wide. 
But wears your cast-off veil with pride ? 

I once your worshipper, unafraid 
In youth to you for guidance prayed 
And wondered why your voice delayed. 

What time I rode through mountains high. 
Whose snowy peaks upheld the sky. 
And questioned Beauty's smile and sigh, 
53 



54 TRUTH 

Nor knew that pity stayed the word 

That in Gehenna had interred 

The heart that had your message heard. 

Illuminator of the soul, 

Whose thoughts unfettered space control, 

Oh, make the life you torture whole. 



THE SPIRIT OF LIGHT 

GODDESS of Light, upon the mountains cold 
Thy throne is set. Thine eye, that knows no tear, 
Whose glances make the hungry eagles fear. 
Breathes forth immortal fire and love untold. 

That draw the chosen toward thine Alpine hold, 
Unrecompensed, save that around their bier 
Fame idly chants their name, warrior and seer. 

And him the sov' reign, from whose hallowed mould 

Laurel and myrtle spring. Thy cruel feet press 
Not mortal loves alone, but great gods slain. 

Thy spoil, by braver hearts, that dreamed no less, 
So jealous madness wrought upon their pain, 

Than thus to win thy perfect loveliness, 
A bliss too deep for men or gods to gain. 



55 



REVERIE 

I WANDERED east, I wandered west, 
To find the girl I loved the best, 
Thro' Love's enchanted holiday 
To dream and dream my life away. 

There was a widow of Baltimore, 
To see her was to seek no more, 
A name I neither ban nor bless, 
.For love is less than truthfulness. 

Kentucky's blue-grass region knows 

A damsel fresher than the rose, 

But, oh, had I been wiser, I ween 

In haunts less tender my steps had been. 

Within the guard of the Golden Gate, 

A maiden indeterminate 

Gave warning to an idle stranger 

How weak his heart, how great his danger. 

Then round the world with footstep light 
I roamed to win my treasure bright, 
And one true Prussian damsel met 
Whose eyes my memory well may fret. 
56 



REVERIE 57 

And one Italian lady gay, 
Who fairly tore my heart away, 
Then, tragic grown, within a year 
Restored it to its former gear. 

And once, oh cruel divided chance! 
I met a lovely child of France, 
Whose rosy lips, with love-lore fraught, 
Too little learned of what they taught. 

And one sweet English girl there was. 
Whom one cannot unnoticed pass. 
Whose thoughtful smiles and tender eyes 
Embodied dreams as pure as wise. 

And, as my wounds were still but green. 
On loves that had, or might have been. 
My thoughts were often fixed, and thus 
Grew complications marvellous. 

One day, when home I had returned. 
With broken wing and feathers burned. 
Upon a morning of the May, 
The merry month, when love has sway, 

I heard just over my garden wall 
My name sound low and musical. 
The voice of one I had known a child, 
Now maiden grown from gypsy wild. 

She stood there, wanton to be praised, 
With eyes and rosebud mouth upraised, 
A poise of witching harmony, 
And look of coy diablerie. 



58 RE VERIE 

But when her glances met my own, 
Like sapphires they fell on her russet gown, 
And her dimples, with pigeon rubies, fed 
From snowy white grew rosy red. 

Two feathers waved their softened light 
Above her face; with blossoms bright 
Her sleeves were wrought, and her slender feet, 
With restless life the greensward beat. 

Why had nature's hand so lavish been. 
To fashion a tomboy into a queen. 
And what the changeling lacked by kind 
To beggar earth and heaven to find ! 

Then I, " Nemasket's fairy child, 

Art married yet, or running wild ? " 

" Why force me, Robin, my secret to tell ? 

We are all married, but ' Primrose Nell.' 

A sweeter voice I had never heard, 
Since the song of the Devil's Widow stirred 
The depths of a heart till then that knew 
No dream less pure than the mountain dew. 

And I thought, have I wandered the world around. 
To seek what unsought were not unfound. 
And I sighed, " Did you not once love to play 
With an unhusked youth on the cocks of hay ? 

" Dost fear if my plighted troth I give 

The gift will be barren or fugitive. 

And if you kiss me, for good and all 

In the yawning earth the heavens will fall ? " 



RE VERIE 59 

Then she, with a breath that perfumed the air, 
"Is your love for me a bargain fair. 
And what will my flattering mother say. 
If I carelessly throw myself away ? " 

Then much I thought, but little said, 

And gathered her in my arms instead. 

And whispered, "Enchantress, beauty- wrought, 

Joy comes as swift as it comes unsought. 

" When Fortune and Love your face behold 
What choice have they but their wings to fold, 
And Fame, — will she not grow doubly fleet, 
To make your glory's arch complete ? 

" Go, pluck from your garden the whitest rose. 
Go, draw toward yourself your silken hose. 
Lace up your whiter dress than snow. 
And let your veil go wimpling low. 

" For to-day my playmate shall be my bride, 
And the voice of your beauty shall wander wide, 
And the sons of burdened men unborn 
Shall hear the word and be less forlorn." 



A WOOD-WILD QUEEN 

OH, will You come in pomp and pride, 
Your hair with diamonds waving; 
With fleecy laces, filmy-eyed. 

The state of queens outbraving; 
Yet with a wood-wild charm beneath, 
That leaves your lover grace to breathe! 

Or come arrayed in white and blue, 

Like maid to quiet used, 
A lily heaven's eye looks through, 

Your pale face soul-suffused; 
But with an inward strength to sway 
The heart that would your trust betray! 



60 



ABOVE MY EYES 

I LOVED a girl as fresh and pure 
As a dewdrop on a lily, 
But how could one of love be sure, 

When half he deemed it silly; 
And I was wonderfully wise, 
In knowledge steeped above my eyes ! 
How gladly now my life I 'd give, 

Unblamed, to watch again 
My sweetheart's blushes fugitive 

White cheek and bosom stain; 
To watch her lovelit glance illume 
The green leaves and the lilac bloom' 



6i 



THE TREASURE-BRIDE 

THE tangles of Estella's hair 
Unfettered wandered here and there 
Around her gleaming shoulders fair, 
Or gathering beauty tumbled down 
To kiss the wrinkles of her gown. 
" Save what this veil conceals, ah, me! 
What lovelier than itself can be ? " 
She turned and rebel hands and eyes 
Rebuked the hope of love's surprise. 
• "What key, coy Berenice, may 
Of Beauty's heart the lock betray ? " 
She answered, " If my lips you kiss. 
Love may not well his purpose miss. 
But such a thing can never be. 
When one is bound and one is free." 
Then from her finger rosy-tipped 
Two priceless gems she slily slipped, 
A ruby red and opal dire 
That exiled breathed reproachful fire, 
As o'er my face with fond design 
I drew her tresses serpentine. 
And whispered her a vision bright. 
The treasure-bride of lost delight. 
And deftly mingled praise and prayer 
That echoed hope and hope's despair, 
Until unconsciously untrue 
Her sapphire glances glinted through 
The lattice of her curls, like stars 
That fret a martyr's prison bars. 



62 



H 



HI, NELLY! 

I, Nelly! ho, Nelly! Nelly, hey forme! 

Oh, who has eyes for others, who once has looked 
at thee! 



I 've seen your glance outshining, 

I 've heard your voice outcharm. 
The storm-cloud's silver lining. 

The Maytide's music warm. 

I 've wooed you in the sunshine, 

I 've sought you in the shade; 
Your hand has rested on mine. 

My sigh your ear waylaid. 

I 've watched your vision floating 

O'er mountain, field, and stream, 
Till love has turned to doting. 

And life to beauty's dream. 

Turn, Nelly! back, Nelly! turn again to me! 
Where'er you roam, love has no home, dear heart, but 
only thee. 



63 



TIME'S GLASS 

I LOOK upon a picture bright, 
A maiden blithe and free, 
Whose glances visibly delight 
The meadow, cliff, and sea. 

Through misty tears that fondly flow, 

As through a magic glass, 
I see love-scenes of long ago 

In breathing beauty pass. 

A slender form of mocking mien. 

Enchanting, debonair. 
From gypsy child to gracious queen 

Ascends life stair by stair. 

I know not by what name to call 

A mystic rose so sweet. 
But pray that blight may never fall 

Nor shadow rest on it. 



64 



DAFFYDOWNDILLY 

DAFFYDOWNDILLY, Daffydowndilly, 
Prudence is folly, waiting is silly, 
Where the winds blow, there. Beauty, go, 
What lies beyond seek not to know, 
Be the path even, be the path hilly, 
Follow your fancy, my Daffydowndilly. 

Sweet is the wild rose, fair is the lily, 
Dearer your charms are, my Daffydowndilly, 
Daughter of April, shower-child and sun-child, 
Through your quick veins gypsy drops run wild. 
Who that has seen you, will he or nill he. 
Turns not again, my Daffydowndilly ? 

Child of the frolic heart, changeable tho' thou art, 

Thou canst not teach love to depart ; 

Thick though the clouds be, sunshine 's at home with 

thee, 
Happy were sorrow's son, could he but roam with thee, 
Idol of spring-tide, thoughts of thee thrill me. 
Thrill me and fill me, my Daffydowndilly. 

Look, on the meadow play palfrey and filly, 
Sired by the wind are they, Daffydowndilly, 
Catch them and mount them, round the world ride with 

me. 
Mock as thou wilt at love, love shall abide with thee: 
Borne on the tempest's wing, love's song shall still thee, 
Soul of my longing, my Daffydowndilly. 



65 



YES? 

E STELLA'S coy denials 
Are not the sorest trials 
Her lovers undergo: 
Far worse a careless yes, 
That leaves you long to guess 
If yes means no. 

But yesterday, to-morrow 

She swore would end my sorrow; 

And, if I chanced to be 
Beneath this spreading oak 
When twilight donned her cloak, 

She 'd come and see. 

Of frozen field and lake 
Farewell the sunbeams take, 

And I am shivering here, 
And for an hour have been, 
Still wondering if my queen 

Will venture near. 

Or, homebound, nestle in 
Her sleepy tiger-skin, 

And, when her throne I sue, 
Exclaim, "How hard to give 
To such a fugitive 

A welcome true! " 



66 



DERRY TOWN 

OH, set me down in Derry town, 
That I may see once more 
The lake, the garden blossom-strewn, 

The meeting-house, the store. 
The sun-burnt cottage, memory's own, 
That Beauty's heiress bore. 

They say, who saw that April queen 

Across the meadows run. 
No lovelier face has ever been 

The sport of rain and sun. 
Her very feet that gemmed the green 

To your heart's door they won. 

When love and bliss before you lie 

Without a care or pain. 
Oh, madness, youth! why must you fly 

From all that hope could gain. 
To be ambition's mockery, 

To live and die in vain ? 



67 



THE PETARD 

IN our Empire City's learned square, 
Whose shades the shades of poets haunt, 
A maiden dwelt, whose graces rare 
Might well a poet's soul enchant. 
Oh joy! when Beauty's hand in mine. 
She softly whispered, " I am thine." 

Unconscionably fair she shone, 
Her eyes no dewdrop half so clear. 

Her golden hair made sunbeams wan, 
Her dimpled throat drew fancy near; 

No anchorite at noon of night 

E'er fought with a vision half so bright. 

Each hour a fugitive charm I found, 
And half the language robbed of sleep, 

That I the truant might impound 
And safe in music's fetters keep. 

Till once two wings with crowning care 

I tied to Beauty's shoulders fair. 

Too soon her wings Estella tried. 
The maker paid with careless scorn; 

Away she flew with mounting pride 
And left her lover love-forlorn. 

Her head my foolish rhymes had turned 

For a godlike hero her fancy yearned. 

l' ENVOI 

By overpraise and overwooing 
Love often works its own undoing. 

68 



THE PRIESTESS 

ONCE when night was at its noon, 
Sweet, I heard your voice commune 
With a choir of spirits bright 
Borne on waves of mystic Hght, 
While in shadows languorous 
Closing blossoms cloistered us; 
And the wind o'er tree-tops high 
Lingeringly wandered by. 
Like a pythoness skilled to read 
Nature's deep, unconscious creed, 
With unfathomable eye, 
Long you looked on earth and sky. 
High your mission then to tell 
Of a truth invisible, 
That, with a diviner beauty. 
Clothes each self-denying duty. 
Then of dateless joy you sing, 
Hopes from changeless faith that spring. 
Chosen music, only known 
To the children of the throne. 
Softly was your bosom swelling. 
Bright the timid love-light welling 
In your filmy eyes, ah me! 
Can a voice so winsome be ? 
Priestess, you have left me, why 
Left you love my soul to try ? 



69 



THE SHADOW-DANCE 

LEAVE me, leave me with my dream, 
That is real and I am not; 
Bubble upon Beauty's stream, 
Touch me and I am forgot. 

Flower of laureate women thou, 

I am but the echo weak 
Of a whisper soft and low 

Breathed on rocky hillside bleak. 

I am but the wonder-glance 

Of each pausing passer-by; 
I am but the shadow-dance 

Of your half-remembered sigh. 

Yet away with all repining. 

Glowworms fade at peep of day; 

But your image, all outshining. 
Shall enchant the world for aye. 



70 



HER OWN 

TIS nothing that our Lady gay 
Is fair as freshest flower in May, 
Or winsome as a forest fay. 

Another's glance may shine as bright, 
Another's smile illumine night. 
Another's footprint lend delight. 

As learned sirens there may be, 
Whose hidden arts of coquetry 
Entangle hearts as witchingly. 

But who of all the chosen fair. 
Whose praises are the muse's care, 
May hope one gift of hers to share ? 

A stolen spark from nature's fires, 
A wit that hides, provokes, inspires, 
That ever charms and never tires. 



71 



A REFRAIN 

AM I a harp, my Love, on which 
Your cunning fingers play 
A melody that shall bewitch 
The listening world alway ? 

Am I a clod your steps surround 
With blossoms fresh and fair, 

That paint your fancies, beauty-crowned, 
Upon the vacant air ? 

Or am I but a simple swain 

Who loves to own your sway 
With one sweet song, one true refrain, 

Who worships you for aye ? 



72 



THE FAIREST 

OH, name the sweetest lady, 
One only can you name; 
Oh, frame the fairest picture, 
What other can you frame ? 
For nature cannot reinvent 
A face so pure and eloquent. 

When steeped in breathing beauty. 

Upon her couch reclined. 
Or like the truant playmate 

Of wandering wave or wind. 
No princess, nymph, or sorceress 
So lavish is of loveliness. 

Estelle will drink of nectar. 

And I of water wan ; 
Her feet will press the summit, 

And mine the sunshine shun; 
But will she ever all forget 
The haunt where tears and kisses met ? 



73 



SUPPER 

SHE whispered to me, " Love is sweet, 
And, sweetheart, you are bonny, 
But oh, for something nice to eat 

I *m simply dying, honey ": 
So kisses and caresses wait. 
While Love and Hunger hold debate. 

The smile that ripples o'er her face 
Two rows of pearls discloses. 

And Hunger, like a tiny grace. 
At play among the roses; 

And as her lover's role she cheapens 

Each roguish glance or dimple deepens. 

With fingers rosy-tipped she carries 

Rare morsels to their goal. 
While Love who at her elbow tarries 

Devours my very soul. 
Till, of my senses all bereft, 
I waste in sighing what is left. 



74 



TO BUY OR BEG 

THE world is yours from sea to sea, 
By title, known to heraldry. 
Of Beauty's proud supremacy. 

Then never deem a lover rude 

Who may with small requests intrude 

Upon your highness' hoarding mood. 

For, save from Beauty's treasury. 
How can a lover hope to buy 
Or beg a golden word or sigh ? 



75 



THE MASQUE 

YOU heeded not the friendly signs 
Shy satyrs made to me 
When thro' Southampton's murmurous pines 

I walked apart with thee, 
When earliest morn had dyed in grain 
The velvet couch where night had lain. 

Your costume from the masque you wore; 

Your brow a crescent crowned; 
Your girdle stuck with spangled ore 

And flaming rubies bound 
A dress of yellow rose leaves made, 
With wings of dragon-flies inlaid. 

From many a white and scarlet throat 
Their song the warblers poured, 

This wooed his mate with joyous note 
And that her flight deplored. 

Till bird and forest disappear 

And sands and tossing waves draw near. 

A grange beside the ocean lies 

To which our comrades haste, 
But wistfully your backward eyes 

Review the sunlit waste, 
And trace this side the reedy mere 
The winding path that led us here. 
76 



THE MASQUE 

You picked two rosebuds from your breast 
And tied them with your hair, 

And whispered, " I '11 unbind the rest 
How gladly, if you care ' ' ; 

And then, ah then, the choice was mine 

The world to capture or resign. 



THE WAIF 

THE maple leaves were turning red, 
The trunks were black with rain, 
And floating mists their sorrow shed 

O'er stream and fruited plain; 
And I mused upon the double gloom 
Of fond hopes wasting in their bloom. 

When from the shadows flew a bird, 
Who perched on my window-sill, 

And with its passionate music stirred 
The springs of thought and will; 

Till blushing dreams too sweet to tell, 

Like bursts of rosebuds, round me fell. 

Through bud and flower, Nemasket, flow 

From lake to larger river, 
For, glassed in thee, one face will grow 

More winsome-fair forever; 
One face to which all hearts that yearn 
As to Madonna's picture turn. 



78 



HER EYES 

HER eyes, what goddess made them, 
With power like moving wine, 
Their beams, what charm arrayed them 

In beauty serpentine. 
With fierce unreasonable delight 
To haunt our spirits day and night! 

Are they now bending o'er me 

To kiss me and caress. 
To flatter and implore me 

With mocking tenderness. 
Again to come beneath the reign 
Of our fair Lady of Disdain ? 

Shall fairies fondly woo me 

To drink the moonlit air, 
Or jealous doubts pursue me 

To realms of dark despair. 
Where hope has wrapt the heavens in gloom 
And turned her palace to a tomb ? 

Oh, eloquent sapphire glances 

From frozen heart and brain, 
Must burning thoughts and fancies 

Repeat their old refrain ? 
Lead, lead me to unchanging bliss. 
Or let me die beneath your kiss. 



79 



THE MIRROR 

SHE stood before the unconscious glass 
And combed her waving hair, 
And all the beauty heaven has 
Or earth was gathered there. 

If the mirror had but had the wit 

To seize its wealth untold, 
What monarch but had purchased it 

With all his garnered gold! 

Oh, were there one whose barren eye 
Had seen and could not guess 

The truant spirit of the sky 
Beneath her humble dress. 

What punishment for such a one 

Could wisest justice give. 
Save but to freeze in the summer sun 

Or in his tomb to live ? 



80 



A GALE 

A GALE is blowing, the engine 's slowing, 
A river o'er the deck is flowing, 
And, like sea-lions grim, 
Tarpaulins with sepulchral voice 
Are sternly hushing every noise, 
As round the ship they swim. 

The ceiling creaks, a woman shrieks, 
From bridge to stern the whistle speaks; 

And in a ghostly chorus 
The spray, the furious wind and wave. 
In tones prophetic of the grave, 

Are hoarsely howling o'er us. 

I love the philosophic mind 

To every chance and change resigned, 

That fate cannot appal ; 
To me, alas! tho' much I 've striven, 
In danger never has been given 

That calm celestial. 

I only see, I only hear. 

Fond faces, voices whispering near. 

With tender sympathy; 
I only pray kind heaven may 
My loved ones guard, and also pay 

Some slight regard to me. 



8i 



THE HEAVY CHANGE 

THE cold has frozen to the bone 
Nemasket's valley fair, 
Where mosses warmed the conscious stone, 
And cardinal flowers the air. 

Is this the consecrated spot 

Where Beauty's loveliest child, 
In nook and corner unforgot. 

Her love-songs warbled wild ? 

At first her glance was half afraid 

To thread the pathways dim. 
But before a month at the farm we 'd stayed, 

She had learned to hunt and swim. 

As snow on cypress fallen new. 

Were her arms in the dawn of May, 

But brown as berries their dimples grew 
As the daisies died away. 

Oh, breathe again soft summer wind, 

How can I dream her gone, 
How can I dream the stars are blind. 

And the sun with ashes strawn ? 



82 



A DORMANT WIT 

SHE whispered me, " Why are you dull, 
What face or figure beautiful 
Has wiled your thoughts away ? 
Or fear you, having stolen my heart, 
So heavy burdened to depart 
And seek a fairer prey ? 

" Nay, fancy-fondled fairy bright 
Let reason guide your wing aright. 

Know that from dusk to morn 
A vision hovering o'er my bed 
Makes foolish slumber lose his head 

And leave me rest-forlorn. 

" Why, absent, are you lovelier far 
Than other maidens present are, 

Why cannot I forget you. 
Nor ever calm my jealous fear. 
Until your butterfly eyes appear 

And make me hope to net you ? 

" Ah, could I sleep an hour or two 
And dream of some less charming you, 

I 'd leap from out my grave 
And show you such a nimble wit. 
You 'd faint away at the sight of it 

And wake my humble slave." 



83 



EHEU FUGACES! 

A FEW more pleasure-fruited years 
And Love will realize his fears, 
And Beauty's lavish loveliness, 
Her smile, her kiss, and her caress 
Will seem like sunset dreams of heaven 
To sinful spirits unforgiven. 
When that ungentle hour shall come 
From Memory's golden treasure home. 
Oh, teach me thy seraphic flight 
To realms that mock at fate and night. 



84 



POOR OCCASION 

SO we still dream of greatness, you and I, 
Who have had taste of bitterness all our lives, 
Woe 's me! I could my very eyes outcry 

That God who gives so much so little gives, 
Who to great thoughts doth poor occasion show 
Or by our modest virtues keeps us low. 



85 



PASSED 

THE dream, through ceaseless years of toil, 
That spurred my hope of fame. 
The dream my mother's eyes would see 
A glory round my name, 

And brighten, when the niggard world 

Grew spendthrift in my praise, 
And turned from Mammon's jewelled shrine 

To strew my path with bays; 

The dream has passed ; she only knew 

Her friendless son unknown, 
A face that none but hostile eyes 

With pleasure looked upon. 

Will thoughts so tender wholly die 

With her, who gave them birth. 
Or bloom like truant wild flowers sprung 

From consecrated earth ? 

One love alone th' immortals prize, 

Unselfish, pure, divine. 
Without reward, without excuse. 

Such love. Dear Heart, was thine. 



86 



THE BLOOD OF KINGS 

MISDEEM not Sweet the blood of kings 
Upon your cheek its purple flings, 
Nor flatter with your gentle name 
A title others proudly claim. 
Think you that Grecian Helen knew 
The arts whose charm illumines you, 
Or Cleopatra used the wiles 
That slumber in your roguish smiles. 
Or Scotland's fairest royal child 
Was ever half so winsome-wild, 
Or Bourbon or Plantagenet 
One gem could on your forehead set ? 
Far rather would I fancy you 
Coy nature's innocent waif and true 
And your fair body's vesture sweet 
As but the symbol incomplete 
Of spiritual gifts that lie 
Invisible to mortal eye, 
But trace by mystic paths unknown 
Their lineage to the immortals' throne. 



87 



ABSENT 

HOW can I, Stella, tune my lute 
When all the world is sighing, 
When blossoms droop, when birds are mute 
And sunbeams round me dying ? 

I strayed into a crowded street, 

A fair face flitted by, 
I heard a whisper low and sweet 

Nor deigned to make reply. 

.1 passed a window bright by chance 

Where hung a slender pair 
Of gloves it seemed a cruel mischance 

You were not there to wear. 

Then far away my fancy sped 

To that dainty hand of thine, 
Whose touch so oft my steps had led 

Thro' flowery fields divine. 



88 



THE TOKENS 

TELL me, Mistress of my Heart, 
Tell me we shall never part ! 
By the hours together spent, 
By our fancies fondly blent. 
By the deepening vistas bright. 
Memory-clad in purple light, 
By the bitter tears that flow, 
When each other's grief we know, 
By our words with web and woof 
Interweaving thought of proof. 
By the kindred tastes that meet 
In companionship complete, 
By your subtle charms that show 
Nature's fire beneath the snow. 
By the hope that I shall crown 
Thee the Princess of Renown, 
By the moon, the stars, the sun. 
Nature's priests, that have looked on. 
Tender hands in rapture grasped. 
Tender souls as closely clasped. 
By the sacred promise given 
None who love shall fail of heaven; 
Tell me, Mistress of my Heart, 
Tell me we shall never part. 



89 



DON'T 

YOU 'LL spoil it if you pinch it; so, 
Unless you want it, don't. 
Art mute, or like some girls I know. 

Too shy to say I won't ? " 
She spoke, and swift her fingers reach 
Their rosy tips out for my peach. 

So modest Stella looked beneath 

The heavy-laden tree. 
No wind so rude had dared to breathe 

Upon her wantonly. 
Yet in her dimples blushes strove 
In vain to smother telltale love. 

Our lives' deep moments are unknown. 

Till after long, long years. 
With sorrow, grief, or sin o'ergrown, 

A mystic hand appears, 
And points our wondering eyes to what 
A heaven we missed and knew it not. 



90 



AMBITION'S SLAVE 

WE parted at the parting ways, 
You vanished from my sight, 
But still your vision shines ablaze 
With beauties infinite. 

I see your gleaming face, your look, 

Your smile divinely human, 
As though all charms had heaven forsook 

To make one lovely woman. 

For memories and dreams as sweet 

Surround you with a light 
That never clothed Aurora's feet, 

Or gemmed the starry night. 

Oh, may my wise, divining eye 

Some error in you find. 
That swiftly to your crystal sky 

My hand that cloud may bind; 

And in its shadow, resting brave, 

I may aspire to be 
Estelle's not unremembered slave 

Through love's eternity. 



91 



FRIENDS! 

FRIENDS! never! sooner would I crave 
The Ice King's flattery, 
Or nestle on the polar wave, 

Than live a friend with thee; 
With thee, whose fond caresses prove 
For us there 's nothing or there 's love. 

With one cruel wrench I 'd sooner part, 

Forget, perchance forgive. 
With ashes feed my lips and heart, 

Than with pale friendship live. 
God's kiss or curse, to doom or bless, 
For me, 't is all or nothingness! 



92 



THE GUEST 

DEEP in the night of love, oppressed 
By heavy cares, I slept. 
When, like a fairy-footed guest, 

Into my gloom you crept, 
And, breathing Beauty's magic, drew 
My wakening soul to worship you. 

Meseemed your downcast eyes expressed 

The mocking, coy delay 
Of dreams as crystal as the breast. 

Where many a snowflake lay; 
Till, by a storm of passion driven, 
Your words betrayed my path to heaven. 

As lips that in a mist of tears, 

Long parted, meet again. 
Oblivious of the vanished years. 

Their burden and their pain. 
Enchantress, so our spirits met 
To hope, to mingle and forget. 



93 



THE TRUANT 

THOUGH lip be never pressed to lip, 
Though hand on hand lie cold, 
Though love's divine companionship 

Frame not our lives in gold. 
Yet nearer with the passing years 
Your gentle soul, Elaine, appears. 

And whiter than th' unstaining breast, 

That shames the falling snow. 
Your thoughts unveil, or haply dressed 

In tender feelings glow, 
Like flowers that share the spring-tide's blush. 
When song-birds field or forest hush. 

I once on such a glorious day 

Your ravelled steps untied, 
That through the buds and blooms of May 

From home had wandered wide. 
And never since that questing hour 
Have I forgotten fay or flower. 

In nature's mysteries eloquent 

Past-mistress are you now, 
And radiant grace and charms unspent 

Fall shower-like from your brow; 
Yet ever to one eye you seem 
The truant child of boyhood's dream. 



94 



Y' 



IN LENT 

'E gracious ladies fair, 
Whose beauty debonair 
Makes lovelier the brightness of the sun, 
Is there no one who will 
The Word Divine fulfil 
And look upon a life undone ? 

A ruler rudely driven 

From Beauty's earthly heaven, 
No more I hunger for my kingdom gone, 

A smile, no more I ask, 

To lighten the dull task 
Of dying in the night alone. 

No flowers or gems with which 

Some dainty suitor rich 
Will fondly strive to picture and delay you ; 

But gratitude profound, 

And love, that wooes the ground 
You tread on, Lady, shall repay you. 

And on your shapely throat 

A string of rhymes shall float, 
And grateful whisper to your wiser mind, 

That all of beauty's but 

A seal that heaven has put 
On gentle hearts that love their kind. 



95 



SOLITARY 

I CAME, where wine was bubbling high, 
And streams of music flowing. 
Where mischief lurked in Beauty's eye, 
And cheeks with mirth were glowing. 

With melons ruddy to the rind, 
With food the billow grudges. 

With spoil of hunter hunger-pined, 
Who through the forest trudges. 

With tumbled fruits and roses spread, 

The tables laboring ride. 
And amber lights dispel the shade 

Of hats, that wander wide. 

But who could think of meat or drink 
Who hoped to find you there. 

And felt his spirit slowly sink 
Where ghosts forfasting fare ? 



96 



FIRST CURE, THEN ENDURE 

THO' I own your beauty's spell, 
Can you wonder, Isabel, 
Love should hold a brief debate, 
Ere his offer lies in state ? 

True it is your slender throat 
Holds the thrush's sweetest note. 
True your motions give delight, 
As though music hit the sight. 

But your eloquent eye and cheek 
Fancies far from peaceful speak. 
Jealous feelings perilous 
That would almost wither us! 

Safe the poison Beauty hides, 
When her lover faithful bides, 
But can coat of twisted mail 
'Gainst her eyeless rage prevail, 

If a rival's subtler art 
Lures away her lover's heart, 
And she watches torn with doubt, 
Till her shivering lamp goes out ? 

Love, before he marries, should 
Study well his mistress' mood. 
Or for jealousy be sure 
He has found a certain cure. 



97 



BY-WAYS 

WHY can I not approach your soul, 
Coy child, through reason's highway, 
But needs must prick me towards my goal 

Thro' thicket-haunted by-way, 
And what to gain save smile and frown 
That half allow and half disown ? 

Could I from Beauty's dainty home 

Persuade your feet away 
To tempt with me the dancing foam 

And with the zephyrs play. 
Would not your flattered kindred spirit 
Let love-in-fellowship draw near it ? 

Ah ! when in combing waves our boat 

Lay shuddering with fear 
A sudden choking in your throat 

Might make your duty clear 
And change your ever changing mood 
To penitent or almost good. 



98 



SECURE 

AS long as you my poems kept 
You had my spirit caged 
So closely that you might have slept 

Though Psyches for me raged, 
For vanity 's a power as great 
As tyrant throned in triple state. 



99 



LofC. 



BOLTED DOOR 

WHAT hand is strong enough to hold 
Untired accumulating gold, 
And who at times does not complain 
Who plays at kiss and come again ? 

Five business days I 'd dancing been 
Attendance upon Beauty's Queen, 
And now in philosophic mood 
Love-satiate at her threshold stood. 

But when they answered, not at home, 
Upon me fell a sudden gloom 
And tender rage and fierce unrest 
Played havoc with my skeptic breast. 

A thousand jealous fears awoke. 

Hid charms from Beauty's coverts broke. 

And Stella never looked before 

So fair as thro' her bolted door. 



lOO 



THE FOREST 

THE rhythm of the beauty-lines 
That swathe her slender form, 
The smile by which the soul divines 

Her heart with music warm, 
And her white hands' reluctant touch 
Had moved my spirit overmuch, 

As thro' the forest mazes deep 

In unfrequented ways. 
We watched the darkling runlet creep 

Thro' myrtles all ablaze, 
That made November's hectic flush 
Outrival April's timid blush. 

Impatient love's sweet trouble threw 

Its mirage o'er the scene, 
Till every misty bramble grew 

Instinct with feeling keen. 
And all the woodland seemed alive 
With plaintive whispers fugitive. 

Then as before a window passed 

With motion beautiful 
The hours without a cloud overcast 

Of love irrevocable, 
That ever fairer growing lent 
To present bliss their blandishment. 



I02 THE FOREST 

Upon the velvet moss reclined 
I watched Camilla's face, 

To guess what subtle thought refined 
Gave a diviner grace 

To rosy lips now softer grown 

Than summer rose from sunset blown. 



HOW QUESTION LOVE? 

OH, reap not, Sweet, thro' long delay 
A harvest great with sorrow, 
A chance foregone of bright to-day 
Forbodes a dull to-morrow. 

Her castle strong shall Beauty rear. 
And Love the watchword give. 

And Beauty's warden silent hear 
The pleading fugitive ? 

" How question Love ? " Estella sighed, 

" If he be false or true; 
Or will he still unchanged abide 

Or, welcomed, bid adieu ? 

" A masker has he ever been, 

Now lovely forms he wears, 
Now tempts the soul to mortal sin 

And fills the world with tears." 

Wilt question Love, my Lady fair. 

Look but within your breast. 
What gentle thoughts and deeds are there. 

That wait on Love's behest ? 

Oh, waste not hours that blush and pale, 

And swiftly pass away; 
Alas! what will remorse avail. 

When Love is wrapt in clay ? 



103 



ANSWER 

HAS, Estelle, your lovely name 
Power the tongues of earth to tame, 
Can it make mute fishes speak 
Or the waves in chorus break, 
Can it from the starry sky 
Lure a languorous melody 
Can it stir the voices deep 
That in autumn forests sleep, 
And can it not waken one 
Of the thoughts that slumber on 
Lips, where from their rosebud bed 
Music's wing has often led 
Words, whose memories divine 
Round the heart their tendrils twine ? 
Answer, rebel charmer, or 
Love to Death's warm arms restore. 



104 



ASSURED 

WHEN seated by the moaning waves 
I dream of one my spirit craves, 
Coy words approach with subtle wing 
And whisper thoughts too sweet to sing, 
Till as your voice they counterfeit 
Away like humming-birds they flit, 
I watch them go without regret 
For they, ah me! will not forget 
But come in pity's name again 
With sweeter balm to ease my pain. 
Would that Estelle's return might be 
Like theirs assured to love and me. 



105 



UNE PARISIENNE 

SHE spoke of liberty's slaves that hurled 
Their torches at the ordered world 
And with their glorious Marseillaise 
Set church and palace in a blaze. 
She told of the eagle's talons deep 
Incarnadined in Prussia's sheep 
At Jena, or the funeral cry 
Of Austria as her legions die, 
And England praying to the wave 
To whelm her in a watery grave, 
And Europe bowed beneath the fame 
Of France and her imperial name ; 
And as she spoke, ah me! I dreamed 
She was the glorious soul she seemed. 



io6 



11 



FAITH 

WHAT can you give me, Sweet, 
To make my life complete ? 
Not bracelets serpentine 
That round the heart entwine, 
Nor snapping diamonds bright 
Nor pearls that brood in light, 
Nor spider-woven dress 
That floats in loveliness, 
Nor heartfelt plaudits showered 
On Beauty genius dowered. 
When toward one royal soul 
The thoughts of thousands roll, 
Nor sweet love's anodyne 
That makes all ills benign ; 
But, oh! could I believe 
Our hearts would wedded live 
By sorrow unestranged. 
By time's intrigues unchanged ! 
Give me this faith and I 
With you will live and die. 



107 



A FAIRY FACE 

OF faces beauty's mirror shows 
Whose will with thine compare, 
That like an idol, Stella, grows 
Than its sweet self more fair. 



io8 



APRIL CHAIN 

CAPRICIOUS child, too wild and good 
To keep the middle of the road, 
Why will you swerve from side to side 
By anger moved or joy or pride ! 

When south winds wave their soaking wings 
The garden with your laughter rings. 
But when the sunbeams prick the leaves 
Your vision silent sits and grieves. 

I would I had, ah, hapless would! 
The right to sway your changing mood. 
Then, though in other months let loose. 
On April days I 'd chain you close. 



109 



THE QUEEN OF SPADES 

AGAINST the wall I stood my spade, 
And plantain leaves for luncheon laid 
Beneath a shapely maple's shade. 

When through the garden dancing came 
A gypsy, cross nor Christian name 
Nor holy water knew to tame. 

She by my side demurely sate. 

And, while deploring my estate, 

With crust and crumb held light debate. 

A golden hatpin then she drew 

With which she deftly tried to mew 

A hole, the eye of time peeped through. 

" And see," she said, "this wasted soil 
Upon a coat too young to toil 
At church may get you in a coil. 

" But come, I have a spanking team 
And if to you it proper seem 
We '11 drive to Pokanoket stream. 

" And since your voice is growing strong. 
If you would not the season wrong, 
You '11 crown our journey with a song, 
no 



THE QUEEN OF SPADES III 

" My ringlets sing, and frolic feet, 
My girdle stuck with daisies sweet, 
And dress as sergeant's button neat. 

* * For oh ! in dainty rhyme to see 
Myself portrayed with some degree 
Of truth is pleasure's cream to me." 

This tale by fame too widely blown 
Provoked in fair Nemasket town 
In most a smile, in some a frown. 



A HAND 

MY labor's cause and high reward 
Had not my life been evil-starred, 
Take thou this picture, would it were, 
Enchantress, less unworthy her 
Whose spirit like a crystal flame 
Must deem our sober flatteries tame, 
Who like the eye of nature seems, 
Or hidden face of music's dreams 
Alluring love's diviner soul 
To beauty's still receding goal. 
Inspired no less new forms to take, 
The charmer or the charmed, or make 
By spells unknown to star or sun 
The model and the artist one, 
Till he who must your praises write 
Shrinks to a hand and fades from sight. 



GIFTS 

OH bring me gifts, she sighed, that may 
The heart of envy make their prey, 
A string of lustrous pearls to shake 
A softened splendor round my neck, 
With waves of diamonds for my hair 
Whose touch shall sorrow drown and care, 
And for my waist a girdle bright 
That shall admiring eyes invite. 
With smaller circlets that will be 
Invisible to all but me. 
And you will find they '11 more prevail 
Than broken sigh and cheek grown pale. 



"3 



MISTAKES 

MISTAKES have been my teachers, I 
Have seen my idols broken lie, 
Have seen my hopes like blooms in May 
Frostbitten by the sun's delay, 
Have seen enchanting visions fair 
With mocking laughter fade in air, 
Have seen the children of the sun 
Transformed to ghost and skeleton, 
Have seen the infallible Lords of fate 
Interred in ground unconsecrate, 
And felt as exiled monarch feels 
When dawn his wasted troops reveals, 
The few whom arms o'erwhelmed in vain 
By Phoebus' unseen arrows slain, 
Yet who with shadows onward presses 
O'er mountains and thro' wildernesses, 
Resolved, companioned or alone, 
Untamed to win or near the throne. 



114 



OCULI 

YOUR eyes a veil of radiance flung 
Before your figure slight, 
And charms less often seen than sung 

And beauties coyly bright 
In evanescent colors blended 
Transformed you to a vision splendid. 

In vain the task or incomplete 

My brush had long essayed, 
To trace the curves from neck to feet 

That round you subtly played, 
Or draw the rapt smile only given 
To those whose dream is fixed on heaven. 

Oh, could I part the woven thread 

Of glances golden blue 
With lustres opaline o'erspread 

That severed me from you. 
The wondrous light that now concealed 
And now a world of hopes revealed ! 

You pointed to a diamond cross 

That paled upon your breast 
Till passion purged of earthly dross 

The gentle sign confessed, 
And turning, Stella, to a prayer 
Grew holy as its shrine was fair. 



"5 



GEORGE WASHBURN,: 

THE soldiers of the light you lead 
Against the hosts of night, 
Nor ever from the van recede 
Although against you fight 
The hidden hands of power and greed 
That strangle ere they smite. 

Your post is by the classic strait 
The Persian bowmen scourged 

When glory to a world's debate 
Their luckless monarch urged, 

Till Greece like Jove with head elate 
From war's black cloud emerged. 

Your college there its front sublime 
Unbares to cloudless skies; 

The treasured truths of toiling time 
It spreads before men's eyes. 

And tears away from nameless crime 
The mask that o'er it lies. 

The words you utter reinspire 

The century-laden slave, 
With power they nerve the sacred fire 

That flits o'er Athens' grave, 
And clothe with hope the soul's desire 

That Christ to mortals gave. 



ii6 



A SUNSHINE MAID 

A SUNSHINE maiden coy and proud 
Dwelt by Nemasket River, 
For pleasure framed, to duty vowed, 
A soul to bloom forever. 

How often from the crystal stream 

I slaked her thirst, or drew 
Through pathways silent as a dream 

Her footsteps light and true. 

How oft to climb for her desire 
Her hair with flowers to deck 

My feet through bramble, moss, and mire 
Imperilled limb and neck. 

Fair maidens, Stella, come and go 
And buds the meadows burden. 

But Heaven will ne'er again bestow 
On earth so rich a guerdon. 



117 



A TOAST 

IF I should drink, as I often think 
A slighted lover should do, 
With Rhenish wine I 'd fill to the brink 
A dainty little shoe. 

Then to clinking chimes, as many times 

As buttons my cup emboss, 
To the snow-bound queen of my melting rhymes 

A generous toast I 'd toss. 

Then I *d faintly call to the waiters all 

To hasten and round me come, 
And turning the table-cloth into a pall, 

To bear me proudly home. 



ii8 



FRACTIONS 

LADY, if you would relieve 
Death of one more burden, give 
Half a kiss to one whose lays 
Will illumine Beauty's praise. 
If more crimson fractions small 
From your lips unguarded fall 
I will round a unit which 
Shall the wondering world bewitch 
More than all the ruddy gold 
Hidden in Alaska cold. 
More than Venus' loosened zone 
Or the ankle fair half shown 
Of the youthful goddess who 
Cheers the gods with luscious dew. 

But if fancy's touches move 
Beauty's pride to stoop to love, 
Swifter than the shuttles fly 
You shall learn your task to ply; 
Till like showers of rosebuds sweet 
On my spirit's tent shall beat 
Kisses multitudinous 
As the stars that mock at us 
When the sudden sun goes down 
On some tropic island lone, 
And the larger infinite 
Thrills us with a strange delight. 
And like time in music dying 
Round us ocean-waves are sighing. 



119 



EC 27 1904 



